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Ask the Expert: Four ways to include security in disaster planning

Accreditation Connection, July 11, 2005

Disaster planning is tough enough; how can you be expected to work security into your planning as well?

"You'll never have an emergency without having security issues that need to be addressed," says Barbara Bisset, PhD, MS, MPH, RN, executive director of the Emergency Services Institute at WakeMed Health and Hospitals in Raleigh, NC.

Bisset offers the following four ways to include security in disaster planning:

1. Open the lines of communication

The first step in disaster planning is to establish communication between the two departments. Many times, hospital disaster planners inadvertently leave security out of the plan, but it's important to include everyone, says Bisset.

Security personnel should play a leading role on your emergency preparedness committee so that when a disaster occurs, they are familiar with their response roles.

Initially, there will be a lot of questions that need answers, such as how to lock down the emergency department (ED) during a disaster, where to station the media, and how to protect the ED.

2. Have security personnel review emergency response plans

Security personnel can fill in potential voids in emergency response plans and answer questions that arise. "They can be the experts who will tell you what they can and can't fulfill," Bisset says.

For example, problems will obviously arise if your emergency plan calls for positioning 30 security officers to lock down the building, and you only have three on duty. During lockdowns and disasters, crowd control issues can surface. An emergency response plan must include internal and external campus traffic control.

"You need to plan for the management of a large number of people on campus," Bisset says. Avoid potential problems by working out the details ahead of time, which allows security and other departments to anticipate their disaster response roles.

3. Have security cosign disaster plans and procedures

Within the first few pages of your disaster plan, include a signature page where staff acknowledges that they read the manual and agree to their disaster responsibilities.

Although every department should sign the disaster plan, it's crucial for security to do so. "Security interacts with every department during a disaster, not only the media, but the general public, patients, police, fire, and emergency medical services," Bisset says.

Security officers need to know what the other departments' responsibilities are for patient care, who they can let into the shipping/receiving area, how public relations will handle the media, and where to send family members of victims.

4. Seek training and personal protective equipment for security officers

You could potentially lose a security officer through biological/chemical exposure, Bisset says. "Security officers are often the first responders to an emergency situation."

For example, consider a lockdown situation where a security officer stands outside the building to direct and guide people. "For the first hour of a disaster, you might have an officer outside stopping people with no protection other than a radio and a flashlight," Bisset says. He or she could risk contamination.

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